Many students struggle throughout the school year trying to handle all the work and studying that comes along with their Advanced Placement classes. Recent changes to the yearly tests have shaken up some students.
Starting May 2025, many AP tests will be going digital. Students aren’t in favor of digital testing and feel some disadvantages will occur.
Twenty-eight tests will go digital with 16 of those being fully online while 12 will be taken hybrid.
Tests going hybrid will be math and science related courses where the multiple choice section will be filled out digitally and students will be able to see the free response questions on the computer but will need to write their answers in a booklet.
The tests will be taken on a platform called Bluebook, which has recently been used in schools for the Digital SAT.
According to a statement by Trevor Packer, the head of the Advanced Placement program, the College Board, which runs the program, is speeding up the transition of the AP tests to digital due to an increase in the number of cheating attempts seen this past May. The board hopes that this transition will provide extra security for the tests.
Students expressed their opinions about digital testing .
“It could be better because people then don’t want to write, we could just type. But then on the other hand, I prefer to handwrite. That’s my opinion. It’s muscle memory and core, but I’m also a writer, so I’m biased as hell,” said Lorena Zhang, a student at Baruch College Campus High School.
“Honestly, I’m not a big fan of digital tests in general because I feel like on computers and screens I can’t compute all the readings as well as I could when it was on paper and I feel it’s also kind of annoying to stare at because it’s a bright screen you’re looking at for a few hours so it kind of hurts your head,” Nashita Moula, another student at BCCHS. said.
Moula continues by pointing out some advantages: “Writing it on paper hurts your hands for a long time. So typing it out, it makes it easier and you get your essays done faster. But I think for me the actual reading portion is more difficult on digital stuff,” she said.
However, with this sudden transition, are schools ready to adapt to this change by the end of the school year?
“We will be invited to an online seminar about it, but we mostly learn from doing it. Last year we had digital PSAT and SAT, so we have an idea of what to expect. Even though we went to online webinars about those, we didn’t really get full experience until the day of the test when we were problem solving issues on the spot,” said Michelle Mistretta, a mathematics teacher at BCCHS.
Teachers have also been changing the way they teach in order to prepare students for the testing changes.
Zhang compares her experience from AP English Language and Composition from last year to her current AP Literature and Composition class.
“Mr. Davis consistently gives us assignments online and he gives us things on the [AP] classroom and we just type up the essay so we don’t really handwrite things like we did in [English Language] last year,” she said.
Schools have also predicted that testing day will look easier for the staff.
“The transition is slightly easier only because we don’t have to wait for shipments of the tests to come, and we don’t have to make big piles of tests for each testing room. We also don’t need to ship out the test booklets for grading after testing is done. Overall, it might be easier logistically since there is less packaging and shipping, however, we do need to make sure that all the technology is working properly and that is harder to predict than the paper copies,” said Mistretta.
Baruch is known for its unreliable Wi-Fi by the students and complaints can be heard from throughout the school. Past experiences from the digital SAT has not helped to sooth the school’s nerves over potential hurdles the students may face.
“One concern is that students may not be familiar with the software and aren’t used to writing essays on the computer. We are also concerned about the Wi-Fi holding up, as well as any software errors that might occur. Last year one laptop cart didn’t charge overnight, and we had to plug in multiple extension cords to keep a room running. We’re confident that we can have everything run smoothly, but there are still a lot of unknowns,” said Mistretta.
As the word advances in technology, education must do the same and implement it into schools. People have expressed that this can create major problems in public schools that are underfunded and can’t afford new or additional devices for testing.
“I think the transition may be unfair to some schools that may not have access to much,” said Mistretta.
This begs the question: must everything go digital?